{"id":29366,"date":"2024-09-12T19:42:25","date_gmt":"2024-09-12T14:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=29366"},"modified":"2025-04-18T12:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T07:11:14","slug":"ground-realities-of-passive-euthanasia-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/12-09-2024\/ground-realities-of-passive-euthanasia-in-india","title":{"rendered":"Ground Realities of Passive Euthanasia in India"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Polity and Governance, GS4\/ Ethics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The debate around the ethics and law that defines passive euthanasia was reignited after the Supreme Court dismissed the plea in Harish Rana\u2019s case, who has been in a permanent vegetative state since 2013.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#fff2cc\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>What is Euthanasia?<\/strong><br>&#8211; Euthanasia, is referred to as mercy killing or physician-assisted death i.e. deliberately ending someone&#8217;s life, usually to relieve suffering.<br>&#8211; Ethicists differentiate between active and passive euthanasia.<br><strong>Active Euthanasia<\/strong><br>&#8211; Also known as <strong>assisted suicide<\/strong>, it refers to deliberately and actively doing something to end a person\u2019s life.<br>&#8211; This is done through methods like administering a <strong>lethal injection<\/strong> or giving an overdose of medication.<br>&#8211; Active euthanasia directly causes the patient&#8217;s death. It is <strong>illegal in most countries, including India.<\/strong><br><strong>Passive Euthanasia<\/strong><br>&#8211; It involves <strong>intentionally letting a patient die by withholding artificial life support<\/strong>, such as a ventilator or feeding tube.<br>&#8211; This can include removing a patient from life support or not providing treatment for a terminal illness.<br>&#8211; Passive euthanasia is <strong>legal in some countries, including India,<\/strong> under specific circumstances and with proper consent.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Status of Euthanasia in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>In 2011,<\/strong> the Supreme Court for the first time recognised the legality of passive euthanasia in the case of <strong>Aruna Ramchandra Shanbaug v Union of India.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>I<strong>n 2018<\/strong>, the Supreme Court recognised the legality of \u2018passive euthanasia\u2019 for terminally-ill patients, holding that the <strong>\u2018right to die with dignity\u2019<\/strong> forms a part of the right to life under <strong>Article 21 <\/strong>of the Constitution of India.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The court also laid down detailed guidelines for passive euthanasia, both in cases where the patient left an <strong>\u2018advance directive<\/strong>\u2019 or a \u2018living will\u2019 stating that life support should be withdrawn if they fall terminally ill, and in cases where no such directive was left behind.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Among the guidelines was the condition that the <strong>living will must be signed in the presence of two witnesses<\/strong> and signed by a Judicial Magistrate.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the case of patients without a living will, the <strong>family has to give their consent<\/strong> for withdrawal of life support.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The court further eased norms for this process in January 2023.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Arguments in Favour of Euthanasia<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>End of Pain: <\/strong>Euthanasia provides a way to relieve the intolerably extreme pain and suffering of an individual. It relieves the terminally ill people from a lingering death.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Respecting Person\u2019s Choice: <\/strong>The essence of human life is to live a dignified life and to force the person to live in an undignified way is against the person\u2019s choice. Thus, it expresses the choice of a person which is a fundamental principle.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dignified Death: <\/strong>Article 21 of the Indian Constitution clearly provides for living with dignity. A person has a right to live a life with at least minimum dignity and if that standard is falling below that minimum level then a person should be given a right to end his life.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Addressing Mental Agony: <\/strong>The motive behind this is to help rather than harm. It not only relieves the unbearable pain of a patient but also relieves the relatives of a patient from the mental agony.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Ethical Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Medical Ethics: <\/strong>Medical ethics call for nursing, caregiving and healing and not ending the life of the patient.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In the present time, medical science is advancing at a great pace making even the most incurable diseases curable today.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Moral Wrong: <\/strong>Taking a life is morally and ethically wrong. The value of life can never be undermined.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concluding remarks<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Euthanasia challenges traditional views on death and medicine. Public discourse that considers religious, ethical, and cultural perspectives is crucial.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Also there is a need for strict guidelines and safeguards are needed to prevent abuse or coercion.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Ensuring access to quality palliative care, which focuses on comfort and symptom relief, should be a priority alongside any discussion of euthanasia.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sources: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/passive-euthanasia-law-realities-9554679\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The debate around the ethics and law that defines passive euthanasia was reignited after the Supreme Court dismissed the plea in Harish Rana\u2019s case, who has been in a permanent vegetative state since 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29366"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41481,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29366\/revisions\/41481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}